Angie's adventures through the world of entrepreneurship, life after grad school, and Memphis.

Sunday, August 06, 2006

A pretty good day.

Today was a nice day.

I woke up on time, got up, and got ready. At around 1, BoRyan got the idea that he wanted to get all new bedding for his room, so we headed to Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Luckily, I've always got coupons lying around, so he was able to get 20% off!

After BBB, we started scouring the neighborhoods for pie. I wanted pie last night, but was convinced to skip it at Houston's. :c) I think someone was feeling guilty. Anyway, luckily I was able to call Jessica F., who always knows the best places to go. After we got past my accent (Thai != Pie), she navigated us to a great place in Santa Monica called Bobolu's. It's a Southern / Island feeling sort of a place with home cooked foods and lots of PIE. Although we had both already had breakfast, we shared an eggs Benedict and then we got pie. He had strawberry shortcake and I had coconut praline (essentially coconut cream pie with pecans). It was GREAT!Afterward, we came home for a few minutes and each had a small lunch before heading over to Dustin's. Dustin graduated from Pepperdine's MBA program today (Congrats!) and was having a barbecue. Of course, I didn't want to be rude, so I had to have a bite there too. He had a GREAT spread! Carne Asada, beans, rice, grated cheese, sour cream, watermelon, and a few other things. I'm thinking he had to have help... it was just perfect and definitely more than one person could throw together after graduation!

Next, we hopped in the car and headed to Parvez Michel's art gallery in Beverly Hills. Parvez loaned his gallery out to a group called StepUp for an exhibit they put on tonight. It was GREAT! StepUp is a non-profit that empowers women; in this case, 13 year old girls. The title of the show was "Seeing the World Through the Eyes of a Teenage Girl." About half of the exhibit was dedicated to the them "When I Am President." Each girl chose a theme that would be her platform when running for president of the United States. Then, they each took photos to represent that platform. All of the pieces of art were on sale and I'm now the lucky owner of a print that will help to support the organization.

The artist who created my piece is named Sophiaya. I'll include an excerpt about her below. If you're interested to learn more or to donate to Step Up, visit www.stepupwomensnetwork.org.

"My name is Sophiaya. I am really outspoken. And sometimes I've gotten into trouble for that. When I am president, I will create positive media images of women and Muslim Americans. My presidential campaign is about the media and how it affects my life as a Muslim Latino, Asian, American girl. Ever since 9/11, I've been looked at differently. I felt judged for something another person did.......Through photography class, I have been able to express myself. Before the class, I always felt like I had to be blond and skinny... I'm okay with myself now and I don't care what people think anymore... I look at myself in a better way now.My first picture is of my shoes. I always wear Converse sneakers, which represent a part of how I see myself and my American, youth culture. When you look at me in my Converse, you probably don't know that I am Muslim, but there are lots of sides to me."This was a part of what Sophiaya said about her work. If you know me, you know that I also really like Converse shoes and photography.... and I support equal rights for all people, especially women and minorities. Sophiaya's photo seemed just perfect for me and for my collection. I'm so glad that we were able to stop by the gallery. I know the event meant a lot to everyone. Luckily, Sophiaya's mom spotted me buying her photo and she came over to take a picture of me buying her daughter's first work. How cool!

Now, I'm sitting at home, sipping on wine from my favorite vineyard (Rideau) and eating the rest of my pie from earlier.